It’s Miller Time…Again. Thank you Jesus

Its Miller time once again, thank you Jesus!
We here at The Motoworld love coming to Miller MotorSports Park in Tooele, Utah for the World Superbike races every year. It’s a chance to see friends that we only see once a year, we communicate all year via laptops and texting, but we only get to see and drink together once a year. We never know what the weather is going to be like, last year it rained and snowed and this year it’s just a little rain…so far. We always come up a day early to just settle in at the track and at our campsite and make the plans for the weekend. Line up interviews, arrange photo shoots and of course, catch the ‘Family Friday’ Motocross races here at the Deseret Peak Complex (where we camp out).

Friday at Miller is usually a pretty laid back day, teams are getting the garages in working order, vendors are setting up their booths, journalists from around the world are starting to show up and John Gardner, the head guy here, is running around like a chicken with its head cut off attending to everyone’s needs and wants. John is a truly remarkable man. But what are the racers doing? Just hanging around in a motorhome playing video games? Not this year.

Racers are racers, it’s a character flaw that many of us are afflicted with and those that love us have to put up with this lunacy, I think in large part with the help of pharmaceuticals. Racers will engage in a foot race, bicycles, scooters, pit bikes, rental cars (the rental car races are the most fun to watch) and go karts. Yesterday was the go kart race.

Miller Motorsports put together a great event featuring WSBK and AMA racers, local celebrities, journalists, and friends. Teams were put together with one pro racer, a local celebrity, a local racer and a military person. Teams were headed by WSBK Champion Carlos Checa, Max Biaggi, Ben Bostrom, Leon Haslam, Tom Sykes, Danny Eslick, AMA Superbike champion Josh Hayes and Former World Champion ‘Mr. Daytona Scott Russell. This was very casual event, except for when Tom Sykes bumped Leon Haslam off the track…good laughs afterwards though. The concept was each team had four drivers; they would each run a bunch of laps and then trade off. The most exciting of the races was the third leg when Carlos Checa, Ben Bostrom and Leon Camier had a great battle which Ben won pretty handily. At the end, they added up the times and the fastest team won. The winning team was headed up by eighteen year old AMA Supersport rider Elena Myers.
It was great to see all the racers just enjoying the time with friends and fans and under no pressure. It was good to see Carlos Checa spend time talking to a few of the military personnel there. All in all a fine afternoon with lots of fun racing, good conversations among friends and much laughter. A fan could meet a racer, get a picture and have a great time too. Next year, if you’re coming to the race, make sure you come on Friday.

It’s that time of year, thank god

Heather and her new lens

Team Motoworld is back at it’s favorite motorcycle event, the World Superbike meet at Miller Motorsposrts Park in Utah. It’s always a wonderful time. Every year when we leave, we’re not even out of the parking lot before we start looking forward to next year, it’s that much fun. Yeah, it’s a lot of work, trying to be in the right place at the right time for that perfect picture, chasing down racers to get a good interview. We each lose about eight pounds each year lugging camera and sound equipment all over the track and the pits. Some years it’s hot and windy, this year it’s overcast and we’re looking for some rain.

We’ve already been out this morning taking pictures with a new lens (to get those really close close-ups), meeting up with friends we only see once a year, catching up on the latest gossip, rumors and news (sometimes the first two get misconstrued as the third?!) and in general, settling into our working home away from home. Yeah, it is a lot of work, but worth every minute of it.

Now back to work.

Cruisin’ the pit’s…always fun

We just got back from cruising the pits which I love doing. I love watching mechanics swarm over a motorcycle when it comes in off the track. The rider jumps off, starts talking to the crew chief, the bike goes up on the stands, if it is going back out the tyre warmers go on or new wheels put on, a technician hooks up a laptop computer to download the information from the bikes computer, evrything is checked over, everyone has their job, including the guy that polishes the bike. The rider going back out hasn’t even taken off his helmet and is surrounded by mechanics, tyre tech and a suspension tech. Controlled chaos…I love it.

If the session is over or there is serious problem with the motorcycle it’s less chaotic, but not much. Computer tech plugs into the bike, wheels come off, bodywork comes off and work begins. The motorcycle looks a skeleton of itself. It’s a similar story if the practice session is over. The mechanics still swarm the motorcycle, the computer tech hooks into the bike instantly, wheels come off, bodywork comes off, mechanics are discecting every thing. The bike looks like a skeleton of itself.

This time the riders helmet is off he get’s a chance to sit down and is surrounded by the crew. They analyze the data from the computer,they talk about feel and how to improve the bike. Debriefing they call it and it takes about twenty to thirty minutes. Mechanics are working away and and that’s when we in the media get a chance to talk to the rider about how things are going. This is a great job.

it’s Miller Time…A day at the races

Yesterday was quite a day for us, some disappointments, some high spots. We finished our day with a good interview with current championship leader Ducat’s Noriyuki Haga and then a nice dinner with a friend.

It’s a beautiful Saturday morning here at Miller Motorsports Park and the pace, in all respects, has picked up a lot. Yesterday everyone was serious and working hard but today you can feel the difference. The support classes were on the track good and early this morning, World Supersport is on the track now and the Superbikes take to the track in a few minutes.

The media center is almost empty of photograhers, they are all out on the track. I envy them being out there, I don’t envy them out there in the heat. Moto Sport photography is fiercely competitive yet they are all friends and help each other in all ways. The only ones here in the room are reporters and story writers. But, after the practice sessions this morning end, this room will be filled with millions of dollars of camera equipment and a lot of hot , sweaty photgrahers grabbing as much water as they can.

Today should be a good day for interviews, we’re focusing on the Supersport racers, acouple of Superbike pilots and an American woman, Melissa Paris. Melissa is the first woman ever to compete in the World Supersport Championships and should prove to be a fun interview. Update…interview w/ Melissa was good…end of update…

Success is the pits, I mean in the pits. Short but sweet. Three world class riders in their leathers getting ready to go out on the track were kind enough to each spend a few minutes with us. Then on the other hand, some racers look right at you, you ask for a minute of their time and they just plain ignore you. Oh well, they’re stars. Time to catch up with ‘The Sultan of Slide” Garry McCoy.

Another update…Interview with Garry McCoy was one of the most fun I have done…end of update…Time for Superpole, going to be very interesting…especially with Big Thunder and Big Lightning coming our way.

That’s it for Saturday at the races